Chicago Cook County Violence Against Women Task Force Working Group Meeting - April 29, 2026
Chicago Cook County Violence Against Women Task Force Working Group Meeting - April 29, 2026
The Chicago Cook County Violence Against Women Task Force court systems and programs working group met on April 29, 2026, via video conference. The meeting featured a presentation by Sarah Hawkins, Director of the Domestic Relations Division of the Cook County Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), followed by discussion and Q&A. No public comments were submitted.
Discussion Items
- Presentation by Sarah Hawkins (OPG Domestic Relations Division): Hawkins provided an overview of the division, which has been operating since 1988. The division provides legal representation for children in parentage, divorce, relocation, orders of protection, visitation, and third-party visitation (including grandparent and sibling visitation) cases. OPG serves as a child representative, not a guardian ad litem (GAL), meaning they maintain attorney-client confidentiality and do not make recommendations to the court. Appointment criteria include: all parties must reside in Cook County, at least one party must be represented by counsel, and mediation must be attempted first. The minimum retainer is $1,000 at a billing rate of $110 per hour, though payment plans are common. Hawkins noted that private child reps and GALs typically charge $350–$400 per hour with retainers of $5,000. The division has six attorneys, receives 10 to 15 new appointments per week, and represents 800 to 950 children. Judges appoint OPG via a bench card; OPG does not accept direct referrals from litigants or advocates. The division is working on expanding to accept GAL appointments in domestic relations, which will require additional training. Hawkins highlighted the division's expertise in abuse/neglect, high-conflict cases, and connecting families with low-cost or sliding-scale services (e.g., supervised visitation, reunification therapy, mental health services).
- Q&A and Discussion:
- Sarah Z. (advocate) asked whether services are available at suburban courthouses. Hawkins confirmed OPG has expanded to Markham, Bridgeview, Rolling Meadows, and Skokie via Zoom, and attorneys travel as needed for in-person hearings.
- Judge training on OPG services occurs at least annually, and judges are reminded monthly during division meetings.
- Commissioner Naya asked about capacity: when overloaded, Hawkins requests additional time from the court (e.g., 60–70 days instead of 30) rather than denying services.
- Hannah Tolinskey (senior division attorney, Domestic Relations) clarified that the discussion about body attachment warrants for non-payment of fees is more relevant to private GALs and should be tabled to the next executive meeting on May 6, as it is not directly handled by OPG.
- Carmen highlighted that the task force's interest in GALs stemmed from a hearing where victims of domestic violence with children in domestic relations cases had GALs assigned, and those cases later involved domestic violence issues.
Key Outcomes
- The next executive meeting was scheduled for May 6, 2026, at 10:00 a.m., in person at the Cook County Boardroom.
- The discussion on body attachment warrants for unpaid fees was deferred to that meeting.
- The meeting was adjourned.
Meeting Transcript
There's no like allowance for them under the IDVA. The IDBA applies to DB related issues. The IMDMA is purely domestic relations issues. So I just want to make sure that we're very clear that this is not necessarily like obviously GALs are appointed in cases where there are going to be DV issues, right? And we have training for that, at least for the private GAL. Sarah will sort of talk about how OPG handles them and also OPG only does child rep, so they're not G A L's at this point. Um in DR. And so I just I just want to clarify for my understanding of like what the interest is in GAL since they aren't allowed for under the IDBA. Like what the interest is within the DD task force. I think just to get an under Katie, do you want to have anything with that? Um, but I think really just so it's part of the process and it was talked about at the hearing, and I think there's you know, just some questions around it, just to go over it again and the process. Um I think the questions that I sent you and Kate's talking about, you know, how how they are assigned, how they're paid, how that is capped, you know, kind of all those questions. Cause I know from the hearing, that was just a lot of there was a lot of questions surrounding that. So sure. So and I just want to clarify that like because my understanding was that this task force was for DD, right? And so IDBA related issues. The IDBA does not allow for GAL, so it's a completely separate statute that we're working under. So I think it's a good expectation setting for you to recognize that this is only going to be in DRD issues. We cannot appoint GALs in DV issues, and it was my understanding that this task force was for DD. So I just wanted to expectations that I know Sarah can talk about it a little bit more. Um also just to remind everybody that a child rep is different from a G A L. OPG is unable to appoint GALs in DRD at this time, and a child rep is a very different function than a G A L is. Right. Okay. So Hannah, this is this is Carmen. I I think we're all pretty clear on that point. It was as Amy mentioned from the hearing last year. The women that have domestic uh cases in domestic relations have children with their abusers and ended up in those cases who are victims. Uh, there were GALs assigned in that domestic relations case, and they subsequently had domestic violence cases as well. So that's how this whole process came up. So I I think thank you for that clarification, but I I think we all understand that GALs are not assigned in DV cases, but we have found from the hearing that a lot of um victims who have children with their abusers ended up with GALs being assigned in their cases while in domestic relations. So that's the context of it. Um Commissioner Naya, are you on? Okay, perfect. If you would like to call the meeting to order. Sure thing. We will officially call the Chicago Cook County um uh violence against women task force, the this specifically for the court systems and programs working uh group to order. Um I will uh I know that you're gonna be calling officially. Are we are we taking attendance at this meeting? No, there's no rule. Okay. So we will begin with public testimony, just a reminder public testimony requests or written comments can be submitted up to 24 hours in advance of the meeting to Nancy.gov. Um Nancy, um, were any public comments or any written comments um submitted for today's meeting? No public comment requests for today's meeting. Okay, um, with that said, we will begin with our first presentation. Um, this is for the Cook County Office of the Public Guardian Domestic Relations Division. We will um kick it off with the presentation by Sarah uh Hawkins, director of domestic um relations division, um, who will be presenting. Welcome and thank you. Okay, thank you so much, Commissioner Onaya, and thank you everyone for the opportunity to present about my division, the domestic relations division for the Cook County Public Guardians Office. So I have prepared um a short PowerPoint presentation that will I hope will guide us through um the presentation.
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